Alastair Reynolds's Blog, page 16

Mountaintop Removal - Lissie

 This is about as good as it gets.

Put a monkey on it

Late in life I have discovered a surprising if relatively useless superpower: the ability to guess the identity of the celebrities on ITV's The Masked Singer.

So far in the current season, I correctly identified (by vocal stylings or clues):

Sophie Ellis Bextor

Martine McCutcheon

John Thomson

Lenny Henry

On that basis, I am unwisely going to stick my neck out and make a prediction. I think John Barrowman is one of the remaining celebs.

Update

 A minor update. Although things have been difficult the last few months, writing's continued in dribs and drabs. After delivering Inhibitor Phase, I switched over to a story that had I'd been working on during the summer, and that was duly completed. It's a long-ish novelette set in the Revelation Space universe, but otherwise unrelated to the just-finished novel. The story's got a title - "Plague Music" - and a home, but about the latter I'll say no more for the time being.

With that done, I re...

Thanks, Mum.

 I lost my mother a couple of days ago. There is probably never a good time to have a loved one pass away from lung cancer (I lost my dad to cancer as well, eleven years ago) but having it happen during a pandemic added an extra layer of distress to the whole thing. Due to Covid restrictions, my sister and I couldn't be with our mum during the last weeks of her life, and when Mum tested positive for the virus, even her partner was only permitted a single final visit. Our experience, harrowing as...

Thanks, mum.

 I lost my mother a couple of days ago. There is probably never a good time to have a loved one pass away from lung cancer (I lost my dad to cancer as well, eleven years ago) but having it happen during a pandemic added an extra layer of distress to the whole thing. Due to Covid restrictions, my sister and I couldn't be with our mum during the last weeks of her life, and when mum tested positive for the virus, even her partner was only permitted a single final visit. Our experience, harrowing as...

"These are great words"

 

Hey, America

You're capable of this:

You're also capable of this:

I don't understand.

Images via CNN and The Guardian/Niyi Fote/via Zuma Wire/Rex/Shutterstock

A Minor Mystery Resolved

 For nearly fifty years I've had the faint memory of a book encountered during the very start of my schooldays, but about which I could say almost nothing at all. The book had some creatures on the cover which were somewhat reminiscent of Moomins, but it was not a Moomin book. (When I first heard of the Moomin stories, I felt that my quest was ended, only to realise that it was not the case). All I could recall with any clarity was that there was something in the book about small creatures who w...

Ex-resident

 

Resident

 

For the last couple of winters, or part thereof, we had roosting birds occupying this nest box. Last year a great tit was in all winter, then built a nest, although unfortunately all the hatchlings perished. Now a blue tit is in the box. Watch this space...